title: Prospective medical assessment of adults surviving childhood cancer: study design, cohort characteristics, and feasibility of the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To facilitate prospective medical assessment of adults surviving pediatric malignancies and advance knowledge about long-term childhood cancer survivor health, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH) is establishing a lifetime cohort of survivors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligibility criteria for inclusion in the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort (SJLIFE) study include: (1) diagnosis of childhood malignancy treated at SJCRH; (2) survival ≥ 10 years from diagnosis; and (3) current age ≥ 18 years. Three levels of participation are offered: (1) comprehensive evaluation on SJCRH campus; (2) limited home evaluation; or (3) completion of health surveys only. A systematic recruitment structure based upon blocks of 50 patients initially focused on leukemia and lymphoma survivors and patients eligible for pilot studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As of January 1, 2010, 1,625 (42%) of 3,900 eligible ≥ 10-year survivors have been contacted. Among the first 1,000 potentially eligible survivors selected for recruitment, 971 were subsequently confirmed to fulfill eligibility criteria. To date, 898/971 (92.5%) have been successfully contacted of whom 825 (91.8%) have agreed to participate. Among participants, 88.6% agreed to comprehensive medical evaluation, 0.4% limited local evaluation, and 11.0% survey only. Anticipated minimum overall participation rate for medical evaluation is 75.3% (731/971). Comparison of those contacted who agreed versus declined to participate revealed a greater proportion of males who declined participation (P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early results of the SJLIFE study support its feasibility to recruit aging childhood cancer survivors to research investigations evaluating late health outcomes by medical assessments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Division of Cancer Survivorship, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and The University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. melissa.hudson@stjude.org
authors.forename: Melissa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Kirsten K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Ness
authors.forename: Vikki G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.forename: Gregory T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: E Brannon
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Sheri L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Spunt
authors.forename: Monika L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Metzger
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Krull
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Klosky
authors.forename: Deo Kumar
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Leslie L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Robison
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D017741:Survivors; D055815:Young Adult